A Troubled Troublesome Woman
by nicallrenner
Summary: When you played enough shogi with someone, you learn how to read them like a book. That's why I know something is wrong with the one I'm playing shogi with right now. "What's bothering you, troublesome woman?"
1. Temari

_I only want two things in the world._

 _I want YOU._

 _And I want US._

* * *

I've been travelling for three days and I'm closing to my destination. Once again, I 'am sent to Konoha as ambassador from Suna, this time I'll be staying in for a month. It's not that I'm complaining or anything. I like Konoha. It's a great escape from my comfort zone which is my own home. There's nothing much to dislike, but after what my idiotic brother told me before I left, it just really annoys me and left me thinking of some tro- stuff..

 _Here I am standing in front of my baby brother, the kazekage. He doesn't really like being called baby brother, says he's not a baby anymore but for me he will always be._

 _"Here's your mission Temari." Gaara handed me a scroll. I took it from his hands and opened it to read the contents while my other brother, Kankurou is standing beside Gaara. The two of us are Gaara's right hand man, guard and personal adviser. That's only right because he's our brother and we'll be right by his side whatever happens._

 _"So, I'll be an Ambassador again huh. Isn't there any mission that you know..." A smirk escaped my lips as I read the scroll._

 _"Huh, here I thought you'll jump out of joy because you'll be seeing your boyfriend again sis." I quickly scowled at Kankurou's comment. The hell is he talking about?_

 _"Kankurou..." Gaara warned, if we weren't in the kazekage's office I might have hit Kankurou with my fan or send him flying through the window.._

 _"What? You know what I'm talking about, WHO rather. That's why you always send her -" Kankurou was interupted with a jab in the gut from Gaara._

 _"Excuse me, but I on the other hand don't know what you mean Kankurou. What boyfriend?! I don't have a boyfriend and you two know that. "_

 _"Oh common sis! Stop with the denial, everybody knows you two are head over heels for each other! That idiot didn't make a move on you yet?" And with that comment I threw the scroll I'm holding right on his face._

 _"Ow! HEY THAT HURTS!" Yeah you deserve it bastard!_

 _"Kankurou, drop it. She's old enough we don't need to pry in her love life." Gaara butts in before I grabbed another scroll from his desk and throw it once again on Kankurou's face._

 _"Coming from you? You're the one who always s- umph! HEY! I THOUGHT WE"RE ON THE SAME TEAM GAARA WHY'D YOU DO THAT FOR?!" Kankurou gain another jab in the gut from Gaara. What's with these two? There's something I'm not getting in this conversation. Huh, love life? I don't really ever had one and I don't plan on having one. No one really is acceptable and qualified to be my boyfriend (yeah yeah I have high standards so what?)_

 _"You're set to leave this afternoon, you should start packing your stuff now Temari." Gaara states calmly ignoring Kankurou's whining._

 _"Okay, I'll be back before I leave the village." With that I exited his office, I might not be able to control my fury towards Kankurou's stupid comments if I stayed any longer.._

 _"Kankurou.."_

 _"Yeah, what now?" He replied, annoyed with all the beatings he received. He's always being hit by Temari and Gaara whenever he comments something stupid. Well.. He deserve it._

 _"This will be the last time I'll be meddling with Temari's personal affairs. If that guy doesn't confess his feelings this time I'll be going to Konoha to personally beat the sense out of him." Kankurou grinned at Gaara's statement. Really, this is the nth time he sends Temari to be ambassador to Konoha, yet that slacker still hasn't realized his feelings for her while everyone knows it._

 _"Those two are hopeless, maybe I'll help you out beating him up. So much for a genius eh." Kankurou looked at Gaara with a smile on his face._

Konoha's main gate came to my view a few moments later. The sun is starting to set when I stepped in Konoha's soil and I was greeted with the pineapple head.

"You're late. You really like to make me wait don't you troublesome woman?" He's wearing his usual get up standard konoha-nin outfit but seems like he haven't change a bit since I first met him back then in the chuunin exams when we're paired up to battle for the finals. Maybe I'm hanging around Shikamaru too much that I can't see that he really changed?

"Heh, I didn't told you to wait for me crybaby." Here we go again with our usual banter. Only six months has passed since we last saw each other, only three months passed since I was sent here to be ambassador and it's been a year since the war ended. We've been together most of the time whenever I'm in Konoha. Either he's my escort or he's my partner for the preparation of Chuunin Exams, I don't really know why they kept us together but I'm glad they did. It's much less trouble since I'm friends with him.

But I 'm still bothered by what Kankurou and Gaara were talking about. Boyfriend really? Are they talking about ..?

"I know and it's troublesome but hokage's orders. I heard we'll be organizing some union thingy for the kages that's why you're staying here for a month. I don't have much information about it though." He stated as we started to head down to the hokage's office to report my arrival while both hands resting at the back of his head with that bored expression he always wear.

"Really? Gaara didn't mention anything about that, wasn't on the scroll he gave me either." I replied while keeping the distance between us in check. Don't know why I bother to but I just did and this is the first time of all the times we've been walking around Konoha. _This is strange, why am I acting strange.._

"Troublesome.."

"Everything is troublesome for you, lazy ass." While walking, two familiar figures are running towards us. Is that Naruto and Kiba? I have nothing against Naruto, he earned my respect a long time ago when he saved Gaara but with Inuzuka, a lot.

"Hey, Temari! You're back, what'cha here for?" Naruto asks gleefully while Inuzuka keeps on eyeing me and Shikamaru suspiciously.

"Bet she's here for a date. Isn't that right Shikamaru?!" Seriously, if he's not hitting on me he's been trying to get information with my relationship with this lazy bastard I'm currently with. This guy really gets on my nerves, I just don't want to ruin my reputation as ambassador. If I did, I won't hesitate sending Kiba's ass flying away from me. So I decided to ignore him.

"Hey Naruto, Gaara sent me again and crybaby here says we'll be organizing some stuffs for the kages." Naruto is next in line on being hokage, it feels like it's just yesterday that this knucklehead saved my brother but now he'll be leading this village.

"Oh I see! Well I hope you have fun with your stay here. And don't forget to stop by Ichiraku's sometime, take her there Shikamaru huh!" This guy really, still in love with his ramen.

"Okay, I'm right here you know. Don't act like I don't! Hey Shikamaru common admit it, you two together right? 'Cause Temari here won't even give a shit when I hit on her so I thought he might have someone, is that you buddy?!" I'm beginning to feel the fury inside me rising. I glanced at Shikamaru to see what his reaction is.

I can see in his eyes that he's annoyed. Good to know I'm not the only one.

"Kiba, shut it already okay. If you don't I might not restrain Temari here from killing you, it's troublesome. Now excuse us, we need to report to the hokage." Shikamaru handled it well, Naruto and Kiba went on their way to who knows where with Kiba muttering 'Alright, sorry. But I'll make you two admit it. Bye!' before leaving. After that we fall into a deep silence.

"So Kiba's hitting on you huh?" Shikamaru stated out of nowhere while walking on the hallway that leads to our destination. If I'm not thinking straight I might have thought he's jealous, good thing I am.

"More like I hitting him with my fan whenever he tries hitting on me." I looked at him from the corner of my eyes, his expression saying he's satisfied with my answer.

He muttered something under his breath with 'good', 'having competition' and of course 'troublesome' Whatever he said, I didn't get it at all but I didn't bother asking what it was.

* * *

A/N: HI THERE! HERE'S A VIRTUAL HUG FROM ME FOR READING MY FIRST STORY :) *HUUUUUG*

Hope you guys like it, reviews are very much appreciated since this is my first story I would like you opinion and suggestion towards my work. Forgive me for any grammatical errors, I'm only human.


	2. Shikamaru

_Problems can be fixed but_

 _unrequited_ _love is a tragedy._

* * *

"That's all for now, I suggest that you take a rest since Suna is 3 days away from here. We'll discuss your actual mission here tomorrow"

Temari and I are facing the sixth hokage of Konoha, Hatake Kakashi. I wasn't that surprised when he was named hokage since he was one of those who shaped the next generation of legendary sannin that stopped the war and saved the world, even though he sneaks reading his favourite Icha Icha series while doing paper work.

We both nodded at his comment and head out of his office. _So what now? I don't want to go home yet. Ugh troublesome._ I glanced at Temari, maybe I could ask her to go grab some tea with me or something just to let time pass. But what if she decline my offer having been so tired from her journey. Wait, why am I thinking so hard about this where I can just ask her to find out her answer. _Something's not right with me.._

"Hey Temari, I'm going to that tea shop that we often go to. You wanna come?" There much better than contemplating questions in your head that will be answered right away. It's not like I'm asking her out for a date…

 _Where did that thought come from? Something is definitely wrong with me._

I know I have this unknown feeling for Temari that's been lingering in my chest for a while now. Okay scratch that, I started feeling this way when she came to save me from that sound nin Tayuya. She's scary I know but when she flashed me that huge smile on her face when she finished what I started, my heart started frantically beating out of my chest. At first I thought it was just the adrenaline making my heart go crazy but it kept happening whenever this troublesome woman smiles at me. I also stated earlier under my breath my relief that she's not letting Kiba hit on her if she does, it's damn too troublesome to have a competition not that I'm not up for the challenge but because it's too troublesome and she might not like me at all in the first place.

"Yeah I have some time to stop by a tea shop." She stated without glancing at me. That's it? No snide comments? Sarcastic remarks? Annoying nicknames? "You okay troublesome woman?" I asked. This time she looked at me as she answered and gave me a reassuring smile. "Yes crybaby, why wouldn't I? I'm just tired that's all."

There it goes again, my heart started pounding hard and fast because of her smile. God she's so pretty and this is so troublesome. _Breathe, Shikamaru don't let her notice you're affected with her beautiful smile._

"You don't have to go with me at the tea shop if you're tired you know. I'll drop you off to where you're supposed to stay." That came out alright. Although I want to spend a little more time with her today, but I think it's okay since she'll be here a little longer than usual.

"I have to 'cause I wanted to. Besides there's still plenty time for me to rest we won't be seeing the hokage tomorrow till noon." We're out of the hokage compound and now heading to the said tea shop.

"Well if you have enough time to rest, care to play shogi with me? Let's just go at my place and mom's probably cooking dinner by now she won't mind if you join us for dinner." _Wait, what did I just say?! Did I invite her at my house and to eat dinner with us?! Ugh, I'll be dealing with two troublesome woman now._ That. Came out unexpectedly. This is the first time she'll be at my place and the first time she'll meet my mom. God what did I just put myself into.

"Heh, didn't know you're a cheapskate." I bet cheapskate is added to the nicknames she has for me. Sweet. "It's because I'm not, been a while since I played shogi with a challenge." Temari is the only one who asides from Asuma and my father I enjoyed playing shogi with.

"Well alright, if that's what you say. Lead the way cheapskate." There you go, _sigh._

* * *

"Mom I'm home!"

"Shikamaru?! Good! You're home early, dinner will be ready in a few min—" She came out of the kitchen with a spatula in her hand and her apron wrapped around her waist. Her sentence was cut off when she saw me with Temari just by the door.

"Good evening Mrs. Nara, I'm Temari of the Sand." She greeted my mom with that lovely smile that makes my heart go crazy. _Keep it together Shikamaru, you can do this, It's not like you're introducing her as your girlfriend…_

My mom returned the smile Temari gave her "Hello there Temari I'm Yoshino Nara, come in make yourself at home." She turned to me and hit me with the spatula she's holding in the shoulder. "And you mister, why didn't you tell me earlier that we'll be having a beautiful visitor? I should've prepared Temari's favourite food for dinner."

"Mom, that hurts and this is unplanned so I didn't have time to tell you." I answered while touching the spot on my shoulder she hit.

"It's alright Mrs. Nara sorry for the surprise visit." Once again she smiled. She really need to smile a lot even though it makes my heart do troublesome stuff.

"Oh, don't be. It's about time Shikamaru introduce his girlfriend to me." With that reply, I blushed. When I say blush, I mean blush really hard! "Mom! What are you saying! I just invited her over dinner to play shogi." This is so troublesome.. I glanced at Temari to see if she's also uncomfortable with my mom's comment and to my surprise she's also blushing?

Temari of the Sand is capable of blushing? And I saw her blush, she's not just pretty.. She's gorgeous, I think I need to make her blush more often.

"Stop with the denial now Shikamaru, Ino told me about her and how you've been talking about her with Chouji." I really need to stop her from saying any more, she knows too much information even though I'm not telling her anything about Temari! Ino and Chouji are in trouble.

"Mom I think you're about to burn the house.."

"Oh right! I'll call you two later when the food's done." And with that she's gone. Does she really have to say that in front of Temari? Geez. I looked at Temari, she's still blushing and I think my mom just scarred our friendship.

"Hey Temari, are you okay? Sorry about that, my mom's mind have been corrupted by Ino with all the troublesome gossips and such about us." I said as I lead her to the living room and motioned her to seat at the couch. Finally she looked at me and I can still see the hint of pink present in her cheeks, I just hope she didn't notice mine.

"It's alright I'm kinda used about all the gossips about us." Maybe she's just surprise that my mother know and would say such thing but she believed my excuse, thank God.

* * *

Dinner went fine, I guess? I manage to stop my mother from making any other comment about me and Temari.

Temari on the other hand was now comfortable with talking with my mom after what happened in the living room. They get along just fine and they talk about me just like I'm not in the room. Troublesome women..

I'm now leading Temari to my room where we'll play shogi. "Your mother is not that bad like what you intend her to be."

"Yeah? I think troublesome women stick with each other. Takes one to know one." I like having these conversation with Temari. It's a good thing she really didn't take what my mom said seriously about us, if she did I think we wouldn't be able to be alone here in my room. She'd probably excuse herself and go to her hotel room and think about what happened then contemplate on how to shut Ino's mouth from spreading more rumors about us.

"So you're saying I'm not as bad like what other people think?" She said as she took her seat across from me.

"No, I'm saying you're like my mom. Both of you are troublesome." I started arranging the pieces on the board. "You two can be scary when you wanted to and keeps ordering me around."

"Well if it weren't for us you won't be motivated to do anything. Besides, I think the reason why you're stuck with us troublesome women 'cause of your laziness." She's right, they're one of the reason I'm striving so hard to become a great shinobi aside from protecting the _King_. In fact, I've been working hard for weeks now to be promoted to Jōnin just like what she said back then, take my duties seriously so I can be Jōnin like her. I don't want to be left behind by this troublesome woman. I want to be just right beside of her.

All the pieces are now set, the game has now started and she take the first move. We played silently. Halfway through the game she finally spoke.

"Shikamaru.." Temari said gently, eyes cast down to the shogi board. I didn't answer and just waited for her to continue what her sentence, but when she didn't I decided to ask while looking at her straight in the eyes.

When you played enough shogi with someone, you learn how to read them like a book. That's why I know something is wrong with the one I'm playing shogi with right now. "What's bothering you, troublesome woman?"

 **A/N: Sorry it took so long for me to update, been busy this past few days. I would like to thank those who left a review on the first chapter I appreciate all of your comments :) Much love to those who favorited and followed this story! Thankyou! Don't forget to share this story to our fellow Shika/Tema fans 3 Hope you like this chapter ^^.**


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